How to Protect Your Finances If You Become Incapacitated

A few simple legal steps can safeguard your money, medical decisions, and family if you become unable to manage them yourself.

NadyaEugene/Shutterstock

No matter how careful and responsible you’ve been with your finances throughout your life, nobody can tell the future. At some point in life, you may go through the unfortunate episode of becoming incapacitated. This could prevent you from effectively managing your financial assets in your best interest and understanding the consequences of investment decisions. And it could also leave you open to serious financial decline, fraud, and manipulation.

This could be devastating to you and your family. But there are a few steps you can take today to make sure that should the unfortunate event of incapacitation arise, your finances and estate would be taken care of. So let’s take a deeper look.

Set Up a Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney allows a trusted individual to legally handle your financial matters when you become incapacitated. This individual known as your agent can perform actions like manage banking and investment accounts, pay bills, sell property, and even manage retirement plans.